Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Vrede too
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Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

Unread post by Vrede too »

Not going away anytime soon, thought it should have its own thread.
Spicer’s latest misdirection on Russia got refuted before he even ended his presser
The White House really wants this story to go away.


... “I guess my question would be, special prosecutor for what?” Spicer said. “We have now for six months heard story after story come out about unnamed sources saying the same thing over and over again, and nothing has come of it… so at what point, you have got to ask yourself, what are you investigating?”

“I think that both the House and Senate have looked at it, you know as well as I do that the intelligence community has looked at it as well,” he continued. “The president has spoken forcefully time and time again that he has no interests in Russia, he hasn’t talked with people in Russia in years… the reporting I’m seeing in different organizations suggests that there’s nothing new that’s being reported. It’s the same stuff over and over again that we’ve heard literally for six months.”

... But Spicer mischaracterized what we know about the Trump campaign’s connections with Russia and how the administration has responded as more information has emerged. Leakers within the intelligence community told reporters earlier this month that the Trump campaign was regularly in contact with Russian officials at the same time Russia was trying to manipulate the presidential election in Trump’s favor. Axios reported on Monday that Spicer, in an “unusual” move, personally enlisted Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC), House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-CA), and CIA Director Mike Pompeo in efforts to quash that story before it was published....

In short, many important questions remain unanswered. The effort administration officials have made to deceive the public and manipulate an ongoing investigation suggests someone is hiding something. And despite Spicer claim that recent reports are simply “same stuff over and over again,” news of all of the aforementioned developments broke in the handful of weeks since Trump took office.

Before Spicer’s presser was even done, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) — the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee — refuted Spicer’s claim that “both the House and Senate have looked” into the Trump’s campaign’s possible collusion with Russian officials who were seeking to interfere in the presidential election.

During a news conference of his own, Schiff said his committee has “reached no conclusion, nor could we, in terms of issues of collusion because we haven’t called in a single witness or reviewed a single document on that issue as of yet.”
Republican Congressman calls for independent prosecutor to investigate Donald Trump
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself.
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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The plot thickens.
Attorney General Sessions did not disclose Russia contacts: Washington Post

... As attorney general, Sessions oversees the Justice Department, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which have been leading investigations into Russian meddling and any links to Trump's associates. Sessions has so far resisted calls to recuse himself.

When Sessions spoke with Kislyak in July and September, he was a senior member of the influential Senate Armed Services Committee as well as one of Trump’s top foreign policy advisers, according to the Post.

Sessions played a prominent role supporting Trump after formally joining the campaign in February 2016.

At his Jan. 10 Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Sessions was asked by Democratic Senator Al Franken what he would do if he learned of any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of the 2016 campaign, the Post reported.

"I’m not aware of any of those activities," Sessions responded, according to the Post. He added: "I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians."

Officials said Sessions did not consider the conversations relevant to the lawmakers’ questions and did not remember in detail what he discussed with Kislyak, according to the Post.

"There was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer," Sarah Isgur Flores, Sessions' spokeswoman, told the Post....
:-0?> :lolno: :bs: :ateeth:
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Why the FBI and a Special Prosecutor Must Immediately Investigate Attorney General Jeff Sessions
“I didn’t have communications with the Russians,” Sessions said under oath. We now know that he did.


Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not tell the truth in his sworn confirmation hearing, and skirted the truth in the written questionnaire accompanying it.

The next steps, according to precedent and law, are clear: An FBI investigation must commence to determine if there are grounds to indict Sessions for perjury, and an independent prosecutor must be appointed to look into Sessions’s conduct in particular, and perhaps the Trump administration’s ties to Russia in general....
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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The amount of Russian ties in this administration is staggering.

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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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bannination wrote:"The amount of Russian ties in this administration is staggering."
I'd say the majority of them are Chinese ....
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Under fire, Sessions says he’s willing to recuse himself from Russia probe if ‘appropriate’

... The revelation, first published in the Washington Post, sparked calls from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for Sessions to recuse himself.

“I think in the trust of the American people you recuse yourself,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday. “I don’t have all the information in front of me. I don’t want to prejudge, but I just think for any investigation going forward you wanna make make sure everybody trusts the investigation. … It just would be easier.”

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, echoed those comments.
Jason Chaffetz
@jasoninthehouse

AG Sessions should clarify his testimony and recuse himself
... Appearing on CNN Thursday, Franken said Sessions’ answer now appears “extremely misleading at the most charitable,” and a flat-out lie at the least.

“He made a false statement,” Franken said. “He needs to explain himself here.”

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., called on Sessions to resign, as did House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
Elizabeth Warren
@SenWarren
We need a special prosecutor totally independent of the AG. We need a real, bipartisan, transparent Congressional investigation into Russia.
Elizabeth Warren
@SenWarren

And we need Attorney General Jeff Sessions – who should have never been confirmed in the first place – to resign. We need it now.
House OversightDems‏ Verified account
@OversightDems

#BREAKING: @RepCummings Calls for Attorney General's #Sessions Resignation After Revelation about Communications with #Russians

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Byron Tau
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Nancy Pelosi: "After lying under oath to Congress about his own communications with the Russians, the Attorney General must resign."
...
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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notice how Beauregard laughs when he lies

the punk racist can be serious as a heart attack when telling the truth, but giggles and smiles when he lies. I would love to see the video of him claiming to have worked 4 civil rights cases.

and damn if Nancy didn't read the riot act without all this nimbi pambi beat around the bush bullshit. lying under oath is a crime
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”

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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Sessions cited Lynch-Clinton meeting in calling for special prosecutor in email investigation

During the 2016 campaign, Jeff Sessions called on then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch to recuse herself from the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server and to appoint a special prosecutor in the case.

The FoxNews.com op-ed, which was co-written with four other Donald Trump campaign surrogates, including Rudy Giuliani, specifically cited Lynch's meeting with former President Bill Clinton on a tarmac in Phoenix as grounds for her recusal....
Jeff Sessions wanted Bill Clinton to be prosecuted for lying (under oath)

... “In America, the Supreme Court and the American people believe no one is above the law." ...
:D :---P

... "You do not forget a one-on-one meeting in your office with a Russian ambassador," (Missouri Sen. Claire) McCaskill (D) said. "If (Sessions) were the prosecutor, he would go after somebody" who provided a similarly misleading statement.
Trump stands by Sessions as Republicans turn up heat

President Donald Trump said Thursday he has "total" confidence in Attorney General Jeff Sessions following accusations that he misled Congress by failing to disclose pre-election meetings with the Kremlin's ambassador to Washington.

Pressure for Sessions to recuse himself from any involvement in a Justice Department probe into links between the Trump campaign and Moscow is becoming intense, as prominent Republicans break ranks with the administration. Democrats argued however that recusal was not enough and that Sessions should resign.

Asked by reporters traveling with the President in Virginia if Sessions should recuse himself, the President said. "I don't think so." ...

"Attorney General Sessions should recuse himself to ensure public confidence in the Justice Department's investigation," said Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who introduced Sessions at his confirmation hearing in January.

"I think the attorney general should further clarify his testimony. And I do think he should recuse himself," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

"Jeff Sessions is a former colleague and a friend, but I think it would be best for him & for the country to recuse himself from the DOJ Russia probe," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, in a statement.

"Attorney General Sessions should recuse himself from any investigation into Russia," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, in a statement. "We need a clear-eyed view of what the Russians actually did so that all Americans can have faith in our institutions."

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Sessions should recuse himself only if he was part of the focus of an ongoing probe.

"If he, himself, is the subject of an investigation, of course he would," Ryan told reporters Thursday. "But if he's not, I don't see any purpose or reason to doing this." ...
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Last edited by Vrede too on Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions recusing himself from campaign probes

Good. Now all we need is for Sessions to resign, an independent special prosecutor to be appointed and for Sessions to tried for perjury.
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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I tried to help black people vote. Jeff Sessions tried to put me in jail: Voices

Karma is a bitch, hopefully soon to be indicted Jeff Sessions.
The petition to Congress reads:

“Attorney General Jeff Sessions lied about his ties to Russia during his confirmation hearing. Congress must demand his resignation, demand that his successor immediately appoint a special prosecutor and use all the tools at its disposal to conduct transparent, independent investigations into Sessions’ and other Trump campaign and administration connections to Russia.”
Trump team issued at least 20 denials of contacts with Russia
Exclusive: (At least) Two other Trump advisers also spoke with Russian envoy during GOP convention

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is not the only member of President Trump’s campaign who spoke to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at a diplomacy conference connected to the Republican National Convention in July. At least two more members of the Trump campaign’s national security officials also spoke with Kislyak at the event, and several more Trump national security advisers were in attendance.

... the newly-revealed communications further contradict months of repeated denials by Trump officials that his campaign had contact with officials representing the Russian government....

(Trump spokeswoman Hope) Hicks has categorically denied any communication between the campaign and the Russian government. “The campaign had no contact with Russian officials,” she said in November....
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite!

Image
Chuck Schumer
@SenSchumer

Happily talk re: my contact w Mr. Putin & his associates, took place in '03 in full view of press & public under oath. Would you &your team?
Chuck Schumer
@SenSchumer

And for the record, they were Krispy Kreme donuts.
:D
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Pretty balanced and comprehensive accounting of what we know so far:

What's behind President Trump's angry tweets that President Obama tapped his phones

An accounting of all the effort expended by the media and all other parties and sides to understand and explain the crazy shit President* Trump says would be YUUUGE. He really is a job creator.
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Rachel Maddow has an interesting point: So how did we get a transcript of Flynn's conversation with the Russians? Spies can listen to furriners, but if they find out there's a US citizen on the line, they're supposed to stop listening. If they had listened to Flynn illegally, they wouldn't likely have been so quick to come up with a transcript. So ... ipso facto alla kazam - they had a warrant on Flynn. :o

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/3/4/ ... last-night

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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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How narrow do FISA warrants have to be? Could there have been a broader one on the Trump campaign/transition, including Flynn, or on more individuals within it than just him? The grounds, I assume, would be the Russian tampering with the election that was known about since at least July, pretty serious stuff, and some basis for suspicion of Trump team collusion with it. But, it's not like FISA warrants are that hard to get.
Last edited by Vrede too on Sun Mar 05, 2017 9:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Lindsey Graham echoed Rachel Maddow (she said it first).
Lindsey Graham Nails The Problem With Trump’s Wiretapping Claims
If Obama got a warrant to eavesdrop, then Trump probably did something wrong, the South Carolina senator noted.


... “I don’t know if it’s true or not, but if it is true, illegally, it would be the biggest political scandal since Watergate,” Graham said, referring to a scenario in which the Obama administration tapped Trump’s phones without a warrant. The crowd, which was evidently packed with anti-Trump residents, booed at this suggestion.

But then Graham, who is often willing to publicly criticize Trump, suggested that it would equally shocking if the eavesdropping had been done legally.

“The other side of the story ― just be quiet for a second ― if the former president of the United States was able to obtain a warrant lawfully to monitor Trump’s campaign for violating a law, that would be the biggest scandal since Watergate,” he said.

Graham made clear that the latter form of wiretapping would be aimed at investigating “Trump campaign activity with foreign governments.” ...
They always forget about Iran-Contra.

Have You Noticed? Russian Diplomats "Dying Suddenly" All Over the Place

Some loosely connected to Trump. -0-?
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Vrede too wrote:How narrow do FISA warrants have to be? Could there have been a broader one on the Trump campaign/transition, including Flynn, or on more individuals within it than just him? The grounds, I assume, would be the Russian tampering with the election that was known about since at least July, pretty serious stuff, and some basis for suspicion of Trump team collusion with it. But, it's not like FISA warrants are that hard to get.
I don't know, but they would have at least have had to state a pro forma probable cause. I'm no expert on FISA, probably less so than you, but it's entirely possible that the reason FISA warrants aren't that hard to get because those requesting them know how to present their request. Of course, there may always be problems with the underlying facts, but absent being burned several time, the court wouldn't know that.

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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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O Really wrote:... I'm no expert on FISA, probably less so than you ...
Nah, not much more than we've discussed here the past 4 years or so. I guess we'll learn sometime whether there is a FISA warrant, what the basis for it was, whether it covers more than just Flynn and what they found. It'll be a weird twist if Comey ends up ousting President* Trump after getting him elected.
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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If it helps, the situation is getting embarrassing for Russia too. The rest of the world can't believe Putin paid full price for Trump.

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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Comey Asks Justice Dept. Sessions to Reject Trump’s Wiretapping Claim Call Trump a Liar

:shock: :D

Found:
Remember the good old days when Sarah Palin was the craziest politician in America?
:thumbup:
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Re: Presidents* Trump & Putin bromance

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Ex-CIA director on wiretap claim: Trump apparently ‘forgot that he was president’

:lol:

To be fair, most of us would like to forget that Trump is president.
White House spokesperson qualifies Trump wiretap assertion

... “If, if, if, if....,” pressed “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, “Why is the president saying it did happen?” ...
:lol: Even his own spokesperson is throwing him under the bus.
rstrong wrote:If it helps, the situation is getting embarrassing for Russia too. The rest of the world can't believe Putin paid full price for Trump.
A metaphor:

(Russian) Guy jumps into pool of motor oil, immediately regrets it (video)
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